What Mark Bellissimo, 53, is doing less than an hour southeast of Asheville and about 40 minutes north of Spartanburg, South Carolina, could change that.

The former software company entrepreneur bought a struggling Florida horse showgrounds property in 2006 and during the next few years became a globally known equestrian-industry mogul. He's been on a mission to de-elitify the exclusive world of competitive equine sports ever since.

"I want this place to be a private, commercial enterprise centered around the love of horses," said Bellissimo, atop a dirt ridge overlooking roughly 1,400 acres that make up the Tryon International Equestrian Center.

Make no mistake. The complex plays to the plush crowd. Multi-bedroom rental houses already dot the property. Upscale hotels are in the works. A future sports complex will include a pool, tennis courts and a deluxe workout facility.

The center, which held its first event last year, will have 500 permanent stables, a 6,000- to 7,000-seat outdoor stadium with floodlights, a jumbotron, a concert stage, a 100,000-square-foot covered arena "with the most footing of any arena in the world," Bellissimo said, and an additional 500 stables.

People will be able to watch movies on the jumbotron in golf carts like at a drive-in, Bellissimo said.

The hotels will be operated with Salamander Hotels & Resorts.

Future development will include retail space, a second luxury hotel and spa near the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course. Everything could be done by 2017.

State-of-the-art competitive facilities will draw Olympian equestrian athletes to compete in events such as the Rolex Grand Prix on June 6, which NBC Sports will broadcast the following day.

A rider competes in the Grand Prix during the fall 2014 series at Tryon International Equestrian Center.(Photo: Erik Olsen / Special to the Citizen-Times)

Despite the glitz and glam, Bellissimo, a co-founder of Tryon Equestrian Partners and one of a half-dozen primary investors who have spent about $100 million developing the complex, is all about opening up doors, not shutting gates.

Family-friendly events

He plans to do exactly what he did near Palm Beach, Florida — one of the most gilt-edged communities in the country: Flood the fields with commoners.

Against the will of much of the established equestrian community surrounding Wellington, a roughly 30-minute drive west of Palm Beach, Bellissimo said he eliminated admission fees and created an event called Saturday Night Lights.

The family-friendly affair featured horse-jumping shows and allowed people to walk the Wellington showgrounds within the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

Public support and awareness skyrocketed, helping the $250 million purchase of the showgrounds transform from a risky Great Recession proposition into a worldwide success.

Those 12 weeks reap more than $100 million and lead to 90,000 hotel room nights, according to George Linley, executive director of the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

"I see the same potential here," Bellissimo said. "I see this resort being a core economic engine for the area."

He also plans to import another event from Florida: a charity horse race that raised $8 million for more than 120 organizations down south.

"We're going to do it here, too," Bellissimo said.

Local impact

The Tryon area has a storied history in equestrian sports, considered the birth place of modern show jumping where the 1956 and 1960 Olympic trials were held.

Building on that foundation, Bellissimo envisions a U.S. Equestrian Center that would develop young American riders.

But the dream doesn't stop there. Bellissimo also sees partnering with Isothermal Community College in Spindale to develop programs that prepare other professionals that the equestrian industry requires, such as horse groomers and barn managers.

An August study by Chris Cavanaugh, founder and president of the Asheville-based consulting firm, Magellan Strategy Group, projected the Tryon equestrian center would bring 90,000 visitors from April through October every year.

"Even with the opening of the Tryon Resort in 2016, anticipated guest demand will likely not be satisfied by current local inventory," Cavanaugh wrote of the 1,753 hotel and bed and breakfast rooms available in Polk and Rutherford counties last August.

In summary, Cavanaugh had a message for the local business community:

"Everyone will have to step up their game — this is a well-traveled audience," he wrote.

Some businesses in Landrum, South Carolina — population approaching 2,400, according to the 2010 Census – already have adapted, said Shawn Evans, president of the Landrum Area Business Association.

"Lots of our businesses used to be closed Sunday through Tuesday," Evans said.

But he and his counterparts have learned that those are the days when the people working, performing and competing at horse events have time off.

"We're going to have to change that during show season," Evans said.

Robert Williamson, director of Polk County's economic development office in Columbus, said he anticipates the equestrian center's influence will be felt in Buncombe, Henderson, Polk and Rutherford counties in North Carolina, and Spartanburg County in South Carolina.

He estimated that the financial impact of the complex could top $50 million this year.

Williamson said he is working with Inhyuck "Steve" Ha, a professor of economics at Western Carolina University, to produce a report that will update a 2007 study that Ha did on the impact of the equine industry on the region.

Those such as Kit Cramer, president and CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, anticipate "opportunities for other types of businesses, everything from advertising to banking to catering to valet services" emanating from equestrian-center operations.

Spartanburg County officials have begun partnering with Tryon equestrian officials to cross-promote their destinations in anticipation of the new tourist influx, said Chris Jennings, executive director of the Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We see this as a great opportunity for those folks to do something in the Upstate and Carolina foothills region," Jennings said. "We're one of the closer destinations. And I hope that many of our population of 250,000 say, 'I will go up and enjoy the equestrian center.'"

That's likely for anybody within driving distance, considering admission and parking at the Tryon center are free. Many Saturday Night Lights — which begins this Saturday — activities also have no charge. Those include face painting, street performers and rides on a hand-painted wooden carousel made in Italy.

The fun begins at 5 p.m. and the equestrian competition begins at 6:30 p.m.

And, who knows, perhaps by the end of the summer a lot more people will know American Pharoah as the horse that became the first Triple Crown Winner since Affirmed — or that the 3-year-old joined a long list of horses that could have, but didn't since 1978.